Everton’s confused strategy has infected both their men’s and women’s teams

Throwing money at it is not a strategy. When the money – or the permission to spend it – runs out, you're back where you started. It's not sustainable, as is now patently obvious.

Nor is having a Chairman and Directors who know little about running a football Club but rely on external funding from an absentee owner who knows even less. It's a master class on how to get relegated and lose a fortune in the process.

Pat @1
I don't disagree with your view at all, however, so many journalists are now on our case, but weren't these the same people who thought we should accept our place in the pecking order, regardless of what or how we operated?

As far as I'm concerned the door that Leicester City appeared to have opened in 2016 is now firmly closed, if not nailed shut, and we are being used as the 'warning' to any other ambitious club, who might have the audicity to try and break the cartel that exists in English football.

I don't particularly like Newcastle or its owners but I hope thay they ruffle more than a few feathers in the coming season, Moshiri gambled big-time, but, wasn't aware of when to stop gambling and we are paying the price for losing that gamble, however, things might have been even worse for Everton, even sooner had we not have found a rich benefactor six years ago.

That's not a reason to excuse the man himself or his underlings and side-kicks, and there is still an open question as to what his and his boss's motivations were for buying Everton Football Club, he's tried and he's failed on the footbal front and has somehow made the club financially insecure, and we as fans have to suffer the consequences of that, possibly for quite a long time to come.

If he was genuinely trying to leapfrog the club into the big league, he shouldn't be mocked for it, but he should be condemmed for allowing the mismanagement of the finances to continue unabated, whether or not he was personally responsible.

Barry Hesketh

With the media I think there are two different factors at play. One most of the "pundits" are from formerly successful teams which over the last 30 years haven't included us. The non pundit journalists mostly grew up supporting these teams so inevitably they are all biased. The other issue is that they love a good story especially as they like having a go at somebody else. They pushed Everton's model under Moyes as a success not because they were genuinely impressed. They did it to highlight how other teams were more poorly run e.g. Sunderland, Villa under Lerner etc. Now our situation has changed so they bash us because it is a good story of how we squandered money etc. Ordinarily, neutrals love an under dog. Everton, with the longest run in the top flight, prior successes, and yes an open wallet for several years are not an under dog when compared with anyone other than the Sky favorites. So neutrals and non-Evertonians are bound to prefer us to go down than say actual "underdogs" like Palace, Brentford, Watford, Burnley etc